Maldon to Maylandsea along the Blackwater shore (12 miles)

Byrhnoth

I walked from Maldon along the England Coast Path (ECP) to Maylandsea, making an excursion onto Northey Island along the way.

NB The map shows my route, with various diversions and excursions which you may not wish to follow precisely. You can download the Google map info, as a KML/KMZ file, then convert to GPX using a site like GPS Visualiser.

In summary, I walked from Maldon Promenade Park to Maylandsea (BLUE route), got the D1 bus back to Maldon High Street, then walked along the riverside back to the start (RED route).

[Previous walk: Maylandsea to Bradwell-on-Sea]

I parked in the Promenade Park at Maldon (£8+ for the day via Ringgo). I paid my respects to the statue of Byrhtnoth overlooking the Blackwater channel. Byrhnoth was the Saxon King who fought the Vikings at the Battle of Maldon, the site of which is believed to be in the fields opposite Northey Island. Unfortunatley, he lost and was killed, but the battle is celebrated in an Anglo-Saxon epic poem of the same name.

I set off at about 09:30am along the ECP.

I soon reached the causeway across to Northey Island, which can only be crossed about 3 hours either side of low tide. I had timed my walk accordingly. The island is in the care of the National Trust. Access is only allowed between April and September. and you can only walk the designated trail around part of the island. All was quiet bird-wise, but I understand the mud flats and salt marsh around the island are teeming with waders and wildfowl (epsecially Brent geese) in winter. A sign on the causeway says that a permit is needed from the NT to set foot on the island, but I think this must be out of date: there is nothing about it on the NT website, and all the explanatory info boards say nothing about it either.

Having had an early picnic lunch sitting on a bench looking across the river to Heybridge Basin, I was back on the mainland within an hour, and continued on my walk along the Blackwater embankment. The tide was rising gradually and filling the river channel with pastel blue water, and puffy clouds brewed up, offering delightful cloudscapes. The final 3 miles to Maylandsea, were frustrating, since the village looked tantalisingly close on the opposite bank of the Lawling and Mundon Creeks, but it seemed to take an age to cover the 3 miles around these creeks.

I wanted to get the D1 bus back to Maldon from Maylandsea, so I hurried to catch the 1410 bus, since the next one would not be until 16:30. I arrived in the village at about 13:30, which just gave me time to savour a drink in the beer garden overlooking the water at The Blackwater Quay bar/restaurant.

The D1 bus dropped me in Maldon High Street. I made my way back to the car park via the interesting Maldon waterfront, including the Maldon Salt Works, old buildings and various reminders of the town's nautical past, especially the 'small ships' moored at The Hythe: these are lovingly preserved, red-sailed Thames sailing barges which take visitors on trips along the river. Maldon would repay a longer visit, with it's historic buildings, quaint streets, well-preserved nautical heritage and well managed and maintained Promenade Park. I had another drink in the Queens Head pub (it was an unexpectedly hot day), and was back at the car about 16:30.

I had covered 10.3 miles along the ECP, including the trip onto Northey Island., plus about 1.5 miles from the bus stop back to my car, so about 12 miles in total.

Here are some photos. It was a sunny morning, with clouds building later in the day, and quite hot, though not as hot as during the recent heat wave.